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Here's The 'Scoop' On Apple TV

Written by: Rocco Pendola12/13/12 - 7:38 AM EST

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NEW YORK ( TheStreet) -- The speculation around Apple (AAPL) TV has passed the height of absurdity.

In one corner, you have the well-respected Jean-Louis Gass&#233;e calling the notion of an actual television set from Apple an "enduring fantasy." In the other, there's Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster predicting an imminent release, as Gass&#233;e noted, for the umpteenth time and third year in a row (!).

Gass&#233;e makes compelling points.

First, he states the obvious: Consumers should be able to access a la carte television. Every program should be an on-demand app. Of course. But that's not going to happen. You'll have to go through the "trouble" of programming your DVR from your iPhone a while longer.

Apple will never cut this deal with the cable/satellite companies and content owners. And there's really no reason why it should.

Gass&#233;e asks "why bother" with a television anyway, noting that the revenue Apple would generate represents a tiny fraction of the whole. I don't agree, but, going with that for a second, you could say the same about Apple doing a full-fledged Pandora (P) competitor .

Big difference between the two: Apple can break a hell of a lot more ground in the living room than it can in streaming radio. I detail several reasons why in the above-linked and other recent articles.

But here's what really baffles me: This hyper-focus on content. I cringe when I make this "accusation" in the same breath as a summary of a Gass&#233;e argument, but this hyper-focus shows a fundamental misunderstanding of what Apple is and why it's so successful.

Turn on a television -- any one of them -- and, depending on what you subscribe to -- content is there. Theoretically, you can access "all of it." That's all Apple needs: A world full of viewable content.

The real "why bother" is why bother getting involved in that whole mess? It's a war not worth fighting. In a perfect world, consumers download or stream content a la carte, but it's not really in Apple's best interest to fight for that "right." I don't see the upside. It's a money out, hustle way too hard to churn out enough product to make acceptable margins proposition.

Maybe it could do a special side deal here or there on really prime stuff (e.g., EPL soccer or a sweet deal with the NFL for Sunday Ticket) or knock knuckles with Google (GOOG) , Amazon.com (AMZN) , Netflix (NFLX) and others by farming out some original programming, but there's not even a need for that.